Chapter 1473: Miracle Chu Yao, A Glimpse of Moonlight [Seeking Monthly Tickets]
The middle-aged man's expression instantly became quite interesting.
His wife, children, elderly parents, and a group of guests were also stunned and stared wide-eyed.
No, what kind of development is this?
Is it because of Prime Minister Chu's illicit affairs that he has come knocking on our door?
For a moment, many guests looked on with increasing interest, curious about what would happen next. It wasn't until Chu Jie reacted first and called for reinforcements, shouting loudly, "Are all the people dead? Are you letting unrelated scoundrels smear Prime Minister Chu?"
They're still trying to smear people at Chu Xiangyi's father's birthday celebration. I can't even imagine how many slanderous rumors will emerge after today.
No matter how high one's position or how great one's power, it's impossible for him to be without political enemies who will attack him.
These flies will swarm towards you as if they smelled excrement.
A murderous thought arose in Chu Jie's mind.
They've already decided where to kill the person and dispose of the body.
Chu Xiang's wife and children, their eyes brimming with tears, looked at their respectful husband and revered father, their hearts filled with unease. If it were truly a romantic affair, why not bring the man home and give him a proper status? Now, with this commotion, who wouldn't say that the Prime Minister's wife lacks tolerance and magnanimity?
Shen Tang kicked the servant away in a few moves.
Chu Jie gritted his teeth and harbored resentment, then personally took to the stage.
In just three or four moves, Shen Tang pierced through both of Chu Jie's arms with a single spear thrust, then subtly pressed down on the spear with his wrist, forcing Chu Jie to lie face down, unable to lift his head. Immobilized and utterly pathetic, Chu Jie slapped the spear shaft and mocked, "You dare show off this skill?"
I forgot to mention, this world was also a typical feudal ancient world.
Chu Jie was exceptionally brave among ordinary people, but compared to Shen Tang, he was simply asking for trouble. The guests, witnessing this scene, were terrified and fell silent, fearing that even a slight breath would be fatal to Shen Tang's spear. Chu Xiang, worried about his sworn brother, quickly reached out to stop Shen Tang from continuing his violence.
"Wait!"
Shen Tang tilted her head back and raised an eyebrow: "You remember now?"
Chu Xiang suppressed his anger: "Your Majesty, could you please remind us where we've met before? To be honest, I have absolutely no recollection of you."
After saying this, Prime Minister Chu stared intently at Shen Tang's movements.
He was afraid that these words would provoke Shen Tang into a violent outburst.
The strange woman who had barged into the birthday banquet simply sighed deeply, then with a bored expression, she put away her spear and kicked Chu Jie, sending him sprawling on his backside: "Oh, if you don't remember me, you don't remember me. I must have the wrong person. You're not the Wu Hui I'm looking for."
Prime Minister Chu: "..."
The guests: "..."
Chu Jie got up and cursed, "Are you sick?"
Shen Tang: "Tsk, even if I have a disease, it's a disease that's specifically designed to counter yours."
Chu Jie made Wu Hui call him "Lord," which always bothered her.
Before leaving, Shen Tang kicked over the two nearest birthday banquet tables, muttering "what a load of crap godfather!" as he leaped over the high wall and disappeared into the dark night. The guests were left staring at each other, none daring to utter a sound.
They really didn't dare, afraid that Shen Tang might turn around and come back to kill them.
"This wall must be at least three and a half meters high... right?" That's almost the height of two adult men combined. Can a normal person jump that high with ease? It looks like something out of a demon!
They come and cause a ruckus for no apparent reason, then disappear without a trace.
This led some guests to make a bold guess—
Perhaps Prime Minister Chu injured some little beast when he was young, and this vengeful little beast has specially transformed into human form to seek revenge?
Yes, that guess makes perfect sense.
The familiar feeling of weightlessness washed over her once again, but this time Shen Tang was mentally prepared, and the discomfort was quickly suppressed. Shen Tang squatted on the edge of the field with her arms crossed, gazing at the vast sea of flowers with a troubled expression.
"Truly, a flower is a world unto itself."
Each flower here is a dreamlike realm.
"...How long will it take to find it?"
Even though she knew that her perception of time was not synchronized with the outside world—for example, she thought several years had passed in her body, but in reality only half a cup of tea's time had passed outside—the time required to find every single flower in the flower field was still an extremely alarming number.
No matter how many difficulties and obstacles she faces, she will not give up on Chu Yao.
After calming myself down a bit, I continued my search.
To avoid re-entering, Shen Tang marked the two flowers she had already entered, took a deep breath, and plunged into the third illusion. This time, she opened her eyes to find herself at the entrance of a peaceful and serene small mountain village, with a vast expanse of neat and orderly farmland in sight. Shen Tang wasn't sure if Chu Yao would be here, so she could only inquire about the situation first—an unfamiliar village.
"It was renamed Chu Family Village a while ago."
Shen Tang: "Chu Family Village? The villagers in the village are surnamed Chu?"
The old man with cloudy, dark eyes took a puff of welding smoke and said, "No, most of the villagers are surnamed Jin. Because the villagers all worked as tenant farmers for the landlord Chu, this place was renamed Chu Family Village."
"Landlord Chu?"
Shen Tang's intuition told her that the landlord Chu was Chu Yao from the illusion, so she slipped the old man a few pieces of silver as a bribe. The old man's eyes lit up when he saw the silver, and he answered Shen Tang's questions without reservation: "Speaking of this landlord Chu, he was originally a villager. His parents called him 'Brother Yu.' Later, life became too hard, so his parents sold him to a wealthy family to be a page."
"Then what?"
"And then? Then he became a big shot, made a lot of money, and came back to buy mountains and land. Do you see that pointed mountain? From there, all the way to there..." The old man pointed to the mountains that were almost invisible in the distance, moving from left to right, drawing a large circle, "They all belong to Master Chu. He's a good man, unlike those heartless landlords of the past. He treats his tenants quite well, and people from all around want to rent his land to work..."
The old man couldn't explain where the money came from.
The only thing that drew criticism was that Landlord Chu's surname was Chu; he had taken his master's surname and hadn't changed it back. Young people thought he was grateful and genuine, while older people thought he was ungrateful and had even forgotten his ancestors' surname. They just didn't dare confront him directly.
Who are his family members?
"I don't know, I only know that he found a cousin."
His cousin was seven years older than him, an unmarried old maid, and he didn't know what she did to make a living before she was found. But this wasn't a problem for just an old man like him; cousins were family, and perhaps good news would come soon.
The landlord Chu Yao's family had a very small number of members.
Shen Tang searched for two days, traversing countless mountains, asking for directions along the way, before finally finding his home. At that moment, she inappropriately recalled what Gong Xi Chou had casually said years ago: "Their ancestors were once wealthy; their mothers could ride warhorses from the ancestral home, galloping in any direction, and it would take two or three hours to reach the ancestral fields." What did that mean? Chu Yao was just a small landowner in a small place!
The landlord's courtyard wall wasn't very high, and the market was right next door.
Shen Tang casually climbed over a wall and ran into the person in question.
"Chu Wuhui?"
Shen Tang was somewhat hesitant to recognize him.
The landlord, Chu Yao, possessed neither the refined and easygoing nature of the strategist Chu Yao, nor the composure of the prime minister Chu Yao, who had long held a high position. His eyes were filled with mercenary calculation. Perhaps due to his daily work in the fields, his skin was quite dark, and his upper body, with his short shirt half-open, was very strong.
Holding a porcelain bowl, I sat on the stone steps at the doorway, slurping noodles.
His eyes sharpened: "Who are you?"
Shen Tang: "Wu Hui...don't you find me approachable?"
The landlord, Chu Yao, was silent for two seconds, then quickly slurped up the rest of the noodles and smashed the porcelain bowl, along with the soup inside, at Shen Tang.
He cursed, "Are you trying to seduce your great-grandfather?"
Shen Tang: "..."
Good news, Shen Tang wasn't hit.
Bad news, Chu Yao went out of character (OOC).
The phrase "Are you seducing your great-grandfather?" kept repeating in her mind.
Shen Tang hugged his knees, staring at the three flowers in silence, pondering a question: "Is Wu Hui truly among these flowers?"
Could it be that I've been tricked by the perfect ceremony?
As if to refute Shen Tang's malicious slander, a tiny speck of light, the size of a grain of sand, floated from the center of the third flower's stamen. Soft, pure, and hazy, like a wisp of moonlight, it drifted gently into her palm. The instant it touched her hand, Shen Tang knew for certain that Chu Yao was there; the light contained a faint, familiar aura.
"You want me to collect this?"
Why weren't those two flowers there?
Was he cheated by the unscrupulous organizers, or did Chu Yao never actually go in?
The information she had so far was too limited; Shen Tang needed to try more to arrive at the correct conclusion. She searched her entire body but couldn't find anything that could contain the light, fearing it might fall. After much thought, she boldly decided to try storing it in her personal monogram.
That way it definitely won't fall off.
Shen Tang plunged into the fourth flower without hesitation.
What came into view was a somewhat familiar city wall. Wasn't this the outer city of Xiaocheng? Only it was even more dilapidated than last time! Shen Tang jumped onto the ruins. The city was full of ruins that had not yet been burned out, and soldiers in cloth armor were searching for something everywhere.
"These soldiers..."
Shen Tang remembered that it was the army that attacked Xiaocheng back then.
She didn't go to see Gong Xichou here, but bypassed the patrolling soldiers and went straight to the old site of Yuehua Tower. This place was not destroyed by the war, and a group of soldiers who had just finished fighting were having fun here. Every Chu Yao in each world has a different experience, and Shen Tang was not sure whether Chu Yao in this world had been taken away by her or was still trapped in Yuehua Tower.
"Silence! Don't scream!" Shen Tang flipped down from the roof beam, covered the disheveled courtesan's mouth, and dragged him into the storeroom amidst the courtesan's terrified gaze. He threatened in a low voice, "If you dare to scream, I'll kill you! If you cooperate, nothing will happen! Isn't there a handyman here called 'Old Chu'? Where is he now?"
The servant said, "Old Chu died yesterday."
The few words startled Shen Tang so much that he trembled all over.
"Dead?"
"He was too slow... so he got kicked to death by a few thugs."
"Dead? Where is the body?"
The servant stammered out what he knew.
When he regained his senses and strength, the kidnappers had vanished. He scrambled out of the storage room, desperately trying to escape, but the sight he saw on the stairs made his legs buckle, and he tumbled down the stairs. There wasn't a single survivor in the entire building!
The bodies were still warm.
Shen Tang killed a group of people and found Chu Yao's body.
The hunched, emaciated, and aged corpse was curled up in a small ball, its spine broken, bone spurs piercing through the flesh. Shen Tang brushed aside the gray hair that was stuck together with blood clots, revealing a face covered in bruises and disfigurements.
Shen Tang squatted down and stared for a long time.
They dug a hole and buried him.
Before leaving the illusion, they slaughtered most of Tang Guo's troops.
"It's not that I didn't want to kill them all, it's just that you were lucky enough to escape with your lives." Gong Xichou wasn't in Xiaocheng, so it was easier for him.
Back in the flower field, Shen Tang didn't rush to enter the fifth flower.
She pursed her lips and waited for a while, but no moonlight drifted out from the flower stamen. She breathed a sigh of relief, tidied herself up a bit, and then continued to look for people.
I never expected this—
The fifth illusionary Chu Yao is not named Chu Yao.
He wasn't sold to the Chu family by his parents, but rather by human traffickers to a neighboring country. Shen Tang searched for him in this illusion for a year, starting from the Chu family village before it changed its name, following the clues, traveling through two or three countries, and finally finding the wandering musician Chu Yao in a remote border town.
Shen Tang could hardly recognize him.
He had most of his face burned in the war, and the remaining intact part was cut off while hiding from warlord soldiers. He unexpectedly learned that he had a talent for cultivation and caught the last train of enlightenment. Now he has some literary talent, so he won't die a violent death while wandering.
When Shen Tang found him, he was playing the zither and singing loudly in a tavern amidst the raging sandstorm, dancing with unrestrained abandon. Half a year ago, he unexpectedly met Jin Rui, the proprietress who had fled to the tavern, and they became close friends. Because Jin Rui's husband, Wei Shou, had died in battle, the two siblings recognized each other and relied on each other for survival, seizing the rare peace in the chaotic world.
No one knows whether death or tomorrow will come first.
"Tomorrow's worries will come tomorrow; let's enjoy today's wine while we can. Rather than worrying about tomorrow, it's better to find joy even in hardship!"
The musicians mingled with the guests.
It wasn't until someone pointed it out that a pretty young woman had been staring at him.
The musician asked Shen Tang, "Why is Your Majesty looking at me like that? Are you curious that there is such an ugly person in the world, as ugly as a ghost?"
Shen Tang asked that question again.
"Wu Hui, don't you find me approachable?"
"Your Majesty's beauty is like a flower, and I find her very pleasing. However—" The musician tilted his head, his smile carrying a hint of worldly-wise frivolity, and leaned closer to ask Chen Tang, "Who is Wu Hui?"
In the flower field, Shen Tang stared blankly at the second point of light.
In the sixth illusion, Chu Yao is still Chu Yao.
However, he was not under Shen Tang's command, but under Zheng Qiao's command.
Zheng Qiao orchestrated the death of the princess of Chu, and the princess's dowry was bestowed upon Zheng Qiao by the King of Xin. Chu Yao followed Zheng Qiao back to Geng, and after many twists and turns, he fought his way back to Xin, where he encountered Shen Tang's army at the Dragon Slaying Bureau. When Shen Tang found Chu Yao, he still looked old. Qi Cang took Zheng Qiao to the old site of the academy to await their deaths, while the remaining old troops were left to fend for themselves and find a way out.
Don't you find me approachable?
The heavily injured Chu Yao said calmly, "Is Shen Jun making fun of me? I just find you repulsive."
Although he didn't know how Shen Youli had gotten here, and even came to ridicule him, a dying man, she looked much more mature than he had seen in the fleeting glimpse on the battlefield. But Shen Youli was skilled in both literature and martial arts, so it was normal for her to be more mature than he was. He couldn't be bothered to pay any attention to this scoundrel.
Shen Tang sighed: "Wu Hui, would you be willing to join my ranks?"
Chu Yao felt as if he had heard some kind of hellish joke.
Pointing to himself: "This old man?"
He asked repeatedly, confirming, "To join your ranks?"
No, did Shen Youli lose her mind because of her mule mount? Who doesn't know that Chu Yao is Zheng Qiao's lackey and vicious dog?
Why would Shen Youli, who values her reputation so much, recruit him?
Chu Yao rejected the offer and then thrust his dagger into Chu Yao's throat.
Shen Tang: "..."
She failed to obtain a third point of light in this illusion.
The seventh illusion is not from ancient times.
Shen Tang found himself in a cold, steel city, where countless towering chimneys billowed black smoke, and pedestrians hurried along the streets in jumpsuits designed to protect against acid rain. Shen Tang was completely dumbfounded.
I'll give one middle finger to God with one hand.
"Damn it, this completion ceremony was really for Chong Wuhui and not for me?" In the previous illusion, we could unravel the mystery and find Chu Yao based on the existing information, but what the hell is this world now?
Good news, Shen Tang was found in less than half a day.
Another piece of good news: Chu Yao has become a happy, lazy couch potato.
Six people from two generations above him were lifted out of poverty through targeted poverty alleviation, and his best friends from school are still so close they share a pair of underwear. His only problem is that he is too indulgent. He was hospitalized for emergency treatment due to a sudden heart attack caused by high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar. Now his family is forcing him to vow to lose weight.
Chu Yao, a chubby guy, can't give up fried chicken, cola, and fries.
"Don't you find me approachable?"
Chu Yao, the chubby guy, stared blankly at Shen Tang: "Really! Honey, you're so close! Are you working for Shen Youli now?"
Shen Tang: "..."
After receiving the third point of light, it became even more silent.
Dozens of illusions help Shen Tang unlock various Chu Yao characters, including but not limited to modern lawyer Chu Yao, ancient lawyer Chu Yao, wise ruler Chu Yao, foolish ruler Chu Yao, entrusted minister Chu Yao, general Chu Yao who abandoned literature for martial arts, beggar Chu Yao, merchant Chu Yao, scholar Chu Yao, teacher Chu Yao... Of course, there are many more strategist Chu Yao, randomly appearing under the tents of warlords she knows and doesn't know. Some illusions lead to a happy and fulfilling life, while others lead to a life full of hardships and ups and downs.
From aristocratic families to humble origins, from gentry to commoners.
He once held high office and also lived a life far from the court.
These are all Chu Yao, but none of them are her Chu Yao.
Shen Tang raised her middle finger and cursed, "Are you kidding me?"
God: (σ)σ:*☆ Oh dear, you only just realized it now?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
